Being a cultural chameleon can be tough, but Bianca’s fellow Stanford alum Alina Syunkova does it in style. She’s gone back and forth between Moscow and the U.S. her entire life, and has become a paragon of the best of both worlds. Multilingual, cosmopolitan and quite fashionable to boot, Alina now works as a Communications and Events Officer at the British Embassy in Moscow, living her dream as a liaison between Russia and the West.

This month, she talked with Y&F about her star-studded job at the embassy, growing up international, living and partying in the sleepless Russian capital, and her thoughts on practicality in fashion (it’s -5°F in Moscow right now!).

Alina Syunkova

Location: Moscow, Russia
Age: 23

A day in the life of the embassy. What’s it like?
Working at the Embassy is a lot like working in a company. There are 200 people here, about 1/3 of them come from the U.K. and the rest are Russian. To work at the Embassy, fluency in English and Russian and the ability to jump back and forth at a split second’s notice is absolutely essential!

I manage the Embassy’s busy events schedule as part of the Press & Public Affairs Section. My job is a big part of public diplomacy: whereas classic diplomacy is aimed at influencing policymakers, public diplomacy aims to engage and inform the wider public on issues that policy affects. It’s sometimes tough to organise up to three events per week – most are after-5 p.m. receptions designed for 120-150 guests, including policy decisionmakers, culture influencers, celebrities, senior-level corporate executives, students, diplomats. By bringing together the right mix of people – those who can relay the message and those who are eager to hear about it, write about it, and pass it along – we conduct public diplomacy. It’s a much more up-close and personal type of marketing than publishing informational leaflets. I love working directly with people in this way. The Press & Public Affairs often collaborate with the U.K. Trade & Investment team to increase the public and media profile of events that are commercial in nature.

The Queen’s Birthday Party

That sounds amazing! Besides events, do you deal with the media?
My colleagues and I handle a steady flow of inquiries from both Russian and British press: newspapers, radio, T.V. channels, and magazines, as well as academic institutions, NGOs, charities, and PR and marketing departments within private companies. Like with events, it’s always exciting because you never know how you will be in touch with when walking into the office: the Financial Times in London or the chief editors of Robb Report, Esquire and Vogue! We provide information about the U.K., useful contacts, and advice on traveling to the U.K. On top of that, we run campaigns, such as the Road to Copenhagen climate change campaign running up to the UN Climate Change Conference in December 2009.

So, any celebrity stories from Moscow?
Working with celebrities is one of the most exciting parts of my job! I’ve gotten to work on events for Lord Wedgwood of Wedgwood-Waterford, U.K. Olympic ice dancing champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, political figures like Edward and David Miliband, the Duke of York Prince Albert, and the Lord Mayor of London. I’ve also gotten the chance to meet many Russian singers, actors, writers, designers, businessmen, and culture influencers: singers Mummiy Troll, Valeriya, Zhanna Aguzarova, ice skaters Alexei Tikhonov and Ilya Averbukh, businessmen like Victor Vekselberg and Mark Garber, celebrity restaurant owner Arkady Novikov, actress Ingeborga Dapkunaite, teleshow hostess Elena Khanga.

Every day, after the regular work day is over, Moscow becomes a labyrinth of social happenings. Millions of venues open their doors to new receptions, presentations, openings and social happenings – and all of this is photographed into Vogue and GQ’s “faces” pages, gossiped about in blogs, written about in newspapers, caught on T.V. by millions of Russians. It’s typical to jump from one one “red carpet” to the next, covering several in one night. I’ve gone to see the opening of a photo exhibition and accidentally bumped into Mikhail Gorbachev, who was speaking there. My friend went to a Diane von Furstenberg lecture at Moscow State University only to see supermodel Natalya Vodianova make an unplanned appearance. You never know when you will find your favourite designer or T.V. personality at a cafe at 11:45 a.m. Moscow is just full of surprises.

Flashing Lights

How did you come to pursue this career?
I grew up travelling between Moscow and the U.S. and always knew that I would make a career out of building bridges between Russia and the West, helping companies and individuals to successfully overcome language, culture, and business culture barriers. There is so much to gain from being international – whether you are an individual, a business or a family – and navigating different systems can be fun if you’re in the right frame of mind – and if you have the right amazing people to open your eyes to the new culture, as I did when I immigrated into the U.S. at age 8.

At Stanford I came to be involved in organising events. I was one of the organisers of the inaugural Stanford Energy Crossroads Conference in March 2007, from concept to finish. I was also a part of Stanford Charity Fashion Show in May 2008. I’ve always loved bringing people together: like a puzzle, putting together the myriad pieces of information and directing them to the right people to make an event possible. For me, the invitations and guest list are very special. When you create a guest list and programme, it is like strategically putting together a recipe: the combination of all the ingredients, plus timing, is what makes chemistry happen. The magic of seeing the guests coming together always gives me energy. Once you determine the message you want to convey through an event, the information, connections, feeling or impression that you ultimately want each of the guests to carry away, there is no end to the possibilities of how this can be achieved. Flowers, music, catering, what goes into the goodie bags – all of these are small finishing touches that, ultimately, make a big difference in the memories you create and the impact you generate.

As a student at Stanford University, I studied International Relations. But I’ve always loved the U.K., I studied international law the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE). Of course, I had no idea back then that I’d one day work for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office – in Moscow! I did also apply for a job at the U.S. Embassy simultaneously. Although that didn’t work out, I am friends with the U.S. Press Officers in Moscow, and they regularly attend our (British Embassy) events as our close friends.

Here’s Part 2 of Alina’s interview!